Here’s a great article about the nonsense of Homeopathy, the idea that giving people a dilute solution of a substance that causes their symptoms can cure those symptoms. A couple of ideas that hadn’t registered with me before:
1. One of the standard dilutions used is 100C, which translates to 1 in 100100. To translate that into terms that we can understand (kinda), if you magically created a new atom that did not exist anywhere else in the entire universe, then counted up all the other atoms in the universe, your novel atom would still not be as diluted as a 100C solution.
2. It’s really hard to get totally pure water in any volume, and even harder to keep it uncontaminated as you swish it from beaker to beaker to create your desired dilution. That means that there are background levels of pretty much any chemical you might put in there that would swamp the supposedly ‘medicinal’ levels you’re trying to create. It would be like trying to apply Giselle Bündchen’s lipstick while 10 guys emptied cans of Dulux over her.*
(*In your dreams)
2 Comments
Hmm, a couple of questions come up:
If your description of that 100C dilution is true, how is it actually possible to do that? Or is that the point: it’s an impossible dilution?
Secondly, did you mean emptying paint “over here” or “over her”. There’s a difference I think.
Either way, I share your irritation with this kind of nonsense. I’m not saying that modern medicine holds the answers for everything, but surely it’s better than a lot of both mumbo and jumbo.
Well it isn’t really possible – you take a large volume of water, put the tidgiest amount of your chosen substance in there, then mix well. Take the tidgiest bit of that solution and add it to a large volume of water, and repeat. It doesn’t take long before it’s a matter of chance whether you have a single atom/molecule of your original substance in the jar you’re working in, and that’s way before you get to 100C.
Oh, and thanks for the correction – I guess I was distracted